EXCERPTS FROM HEARINGS. 317

We sell very largely to the growers of sugar cane, manufacturers of sugar.
It has been a very prosperous time for them in the last two years. They have
been doing very well and have sold their product at very high prices and are in
funds now and more or less independent, and we are realizing a little bit from
that state of affairs, But so long as the capital is furnished by England, Germany,
 and France for this business, we can not expect to secure very much trade
In return, except on stuff that has a merit beyond anything that the other countries
 may be able to produce. * * *
Most of the people I have interviewed have expressed an extreme desire to
do business in this country, but on account of their banking relations they can
not do it. They are all heavy borrowers; and they borrow their money with an
understanding that the business they may have to place shall be placed through
their banks or the brokers from whom they'get the money. We have two or
three concerns in New York City, Agar, Cross &amp; Co. is one, which are doing more
or less of that sort of business. They will finance some concerns in some particular
 lines and from them secure a great deal of business which they place in
this country, but the amount of that business is small, a drop in the bucket as
erompared to the total.
G. L. Walters, of the Adams &amp; Westlake Co., Chicago, Ill., manufacturers
 of railroad supplies, said. in part, as follows:
In connection with the South American trade, for instance, we do some busipess
 in South America, and we are always confronted with the condition
of foreign capital being invested there, which is influencing the placing of
business, so that to do business in certain countries of South America, particularly
 the Argentine, it is really necessary to do this business through foreign
connections, principally through English houses. Of course, the answer is that
we have no influence down there financially, and, naturally, the people that have
the money control to a measure where that business will be placed. There is
nothing new about this story, but we are another illustration in having to work
In that way, even going so far with some of our articles as to practically manufacture
 them here and then place the label on them in England before they are
shipped south.
And as to why cooperation in selling had not been resorted to,
Mr. Walters said:

I think, so far, it has been a question of financing down there, largely. I do
not think there has been enough business down there that the people can get
away from the people who are financing the roads. Of course, we are very
weak agents there, from the fact that we have no financial interests, and that is
the greatest thing we have to combat in selling railroad supplies. It is our
experience and the experience of a great many I have talked with. It is the
same way in China; the German people over there will not buy anything from
you as long as they can get it in Germany. If they can not get it in Germany
they are glad to take your stock and buy what little stuff you have to sell that is
not in competition.

{e) Influence of Nationals in Foreign Countries on Buying.
F. C. Gilbert, assistant secretary of the Timken-Detroit Axle Co.,
Detroit, Mich.. stated :
We have been after the export business for a number of years; I think for
about six years. It has been apparently, up to within the last year, an almost
hopeless fight, because of labor conditions here and manufacturing cost and
various other items, and because the foreign engineers have been—probably
rightly so—prejudiced in favor of their particular design and construction;
and the volume of production abroad has not been such as would warrant us in
catering to the peculiar designs used in foreign countries.
Charles M. Muchnic, vice president of the American Locomotive
Sales Corporation, New York City, said:
Most of the foreign railways, and particularly those in South America,
China, and India, are built by foreign capital and operated by foreign engi-